Power weapons use a gradient of light to dark across the blade, with the transition line angled opposite to normal light placement. This creates the signature glowing energy weapon look seen throughout Warhammer 40k — a blade that appears to radiate power from within rather than simply reflecting external light.
The classic power weapon technique inverts your usual highlighting logic. Where you’d normally place a light highlight, you paint dark. Where you’d normally shade dark, you paint light. This counter-intuitive approach creates the illusion that the blade is generating its own light, making it one of the most striking effects in miniature painting.
This guide covers the classic power weapon method, colour selection, blending approaches, edge highlighting for energy weapons, the quick Contrast method, and non-metallic metal (NMM) power weapons for advanced painters.
How Does the Classic Power Weapon Technique Work?
The classic power weapon technique divides the blade into two or more triangular sections with opposing gradients. On one side of the blade, the colour transitions from dark at the top to light at the bottom. On the other section, it reverses — light at the top, dark at the bottom. The boundary between these sections creates a sharp diagonal line across the blade.
This works because it creates an optical illusion. In nature, a surface lit from above is light at the top and dark at the bottom. By placing the light value where you’d expect shadow (and vice versa), the blade appears to glow with internal energy. Your eye reads it as a light source rather than a reflective surface.
The diagonal transition line is key. It should run from one corner of the blade to the opposite corner, creating two triangular zones. The angle of this line affects the perceived energy — a steeper angle looks more dynamic, while a shallower angle looks more stable. Most painters angle the line roughly 30-45 degrees from the blade’s edge.
How Do You Paint a Power Weapon Step by Step?
Here’s the full process using a blue power sword as the example — the most classic Warhammer power weapon colour.
Step 1: Basecoat the Blade
Apply a solid midtone blue over the entire blade. Kantor Blue (Citadel), Dark Prussian Blue (Vallejo), or any dark-to-mid blue works. This is your foundation colour. Two thin coats over primer for smooth, even coverage. The blade surface needs to be as smooth as possible — any brush strokes will show through the gradient.
Step 2: Plan Your Transition Line
Mentally divide the blade with a diagonal line running from one corner to the opposite corner. You’ll paint light-to-dark on one side of this line and dark-to-light on the other. Some painters lightly sketch the line with a pencil or score it gently with a needle for guidance. With practice, you’ll do this by eye.
Step 3: Paint the Dark-to-Light Gradient (Side A)
On one triangle of the blade, build up from dark at one corner to light at the opposite corner. Start by glazing your darkest blue (Kantor Blue or even adding black) into the dark corner. Then mix progressively lighter blues — adding white or a lighter blue (Teclis Blue, then Lothern Blue, then Baharroth Blue) — toward the light corner. Apply each step as a thin layer, feathering the edge so the transition is smooth.
Step 4: Paint the Opposite Gradient (Side B)
On the other triangle, reverse the gradient. Where Side A was dark, Side B should be light, and where Side A was light, Side B should be dark. Use the same colours but apply them in the opposite positions. The transition line between the two sides should now show a clear “flip” in value — dark meeting light along the diagonal.
Step 5: Sharpen the Transition Line
The diagonal line between the two gradients should be crisp and defined. Use a fine brush to clean up this line with your lightest colour. Some painters add a thin white or near-white line exactly along the transition to make it pop. This bright line represents the peak energy concentration on the blade.
Step 6: Edge Highlight
Apply a bright edge highlight along all edges of the blade using your lightest blue or white. Power weapon edge highlights should be brighter than normal edge highlights — they represent energy crackling along the blade’s edges. Use Blue Horror or even pure white for the finest edge lines. Add small dots or dashes along the edge at irregular intervals to suggest energy arcing.
What Colours Work Best for Power Weapons?
Any colour can work for a power weapon, but some produce more striking results than others. Here are tested recipes for each common colour.
Blue (classic): Kantor Blue → Caledor Sky → Teclis Blue → Lothern Blue → Baharroth Blue → White Scar edge. The most recognisable power weapon colour. Works on every faction.
Green (Dark Angels, Necrons): Caliban Green → Warpstone Glow → Moot Green → Gauss Blaster Green → White Scar edge. Green power weapons suit Necron forces and Dark Angels particularly well.
Purple (Slaanesh, Grey Knights): Naggaroth Night → Xereus Purple → Genestealer Purple → Dechala Lilac → White Scar edge. Purple gives an exotic, psychic look to force weapons.
Red-orange (Blood Angels, Khorne): Khorne Red → Mephiston Red → Evil Sunz Scarlet → Wild Rider Red → Fire Dragon Bright → White edge. Looks like a superheated blade.
White-lightning: The Fang → Russ Grey → Fenrisian Grey → Blue Horror → White Scar. Creates a cold, electric look perfect for Space Wolves or Adeptus Custodes.
How Do You Blend Power Weapon Gradients Smoothly?
The gradient quality makes or breaks a power weapon. Here are three approaches ordered by difficulty.
Layering (beginner-friendly): Mix 5-7 intermediate shades between your darkest and lightest colour. Apply each shade as a thin band, overlapping slightly with the previous one. More bands = smoother gradient. This method is slow but very controllable. If you can highlight armour by layering, you can do power weapons.
Glazing (intermediate): Block in 3-4 rough colour zones, then blend them by applying extremely thin glazes (5:1+ water to paint) over the boundaries. Each glaze subtly shifts the colour, building up a smooth transition over 5-10 passes. This is forgiving because each glaze makes a tiny change — mistakes are easy to correct.
Wet blending (advanced): Apply two adjacent colours while wet and blend on the blade surface with a clean brush. Produces the smoothest result in the least time, but requires speed and confidence. Adding retarder medium extends your working time. Flat blade surfaces are actually ideal for wet blending practice because there are no textures to catch the brush.
How Do You Paint Power Weapons With Contrast Paints?
This is the fastest method and produces surprisingly good results for tabletop quality. It skips the complex blending entirely.
Step 1: Paint the blade white (2-3 thin coats). A smooth white base is essential.
Step 2: Apply Talassar Blue Contrast (or your chosen Contrast colour) over the blade in a single, confident stroke. Let it pool slightly in the recesses if the blade has any detail lines.
Step 3: While the Contrast is still wet, wipe the flat of the blade gently with a clean finger or brush. This removes Contrast from the high points, creating a natural dark-to-light gradient from edges to centre.
Step 4: Once dry, edge highlight with a bright blue-white (Blue Horror + White Scar).
This won’t produce the traditional diagonal-split power weapon look, but it creates a convincing glowing blade in under 5 minutes. Perfect for batch-painting squads where every model has a power weapon.
How Do You Paint NMM Power Weapons?
Non-metallic metal (NMM) power weapons combine two advanced techniques: the power weapon gradient and NMM reflections. The blade is painted with the reversed-gradient power weapon technique, but the highlight placements also follow NMM conventions — sharp contrast, reflected environment colours, and a bright specular highlight spot.
This is a display-level technique. The process follows the same steps as the classic power weapon, but with sharper value transitions (less blending, more contrast) and an additional cool-to-warm colour shift across the gradient. For example, a blue power weapon in NMM might shift from dark navy (cool) to warm turquoise (warm) to white (neutral), with the transitions much sharper than a smooth gradient.
Add a small, intense white spot on the blade where the specular highlight would be — this reads as a reflective surface. The surrounding area should be dark to maximise contrast. The eye reads high contrast as reflective, so the NMM power weapon appears both metallic and glowing simultaneously.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you need to paint both sides of the blade?
On flat blades, you typically only see one side at a time. Paint the visible side with the full technique. If both sides are visible (on a raised sword), paint them as mirror images — the gradient should flip so the light values appear consistent with a single internal light source.
Can you paint power axes and hammers the same way?
Yes. The technique works on any flat or semi-flat surface. For axes, the wide blade face receives the diagonal split gradient. For hammers, apply the gradient across the hammer head. For power fists, apply it across each flat panel of the gauntlet. Curved surfaces (like power mauls) need the gradient to wrap, which is more challenging.
Should power weapons have OSL on the wielder?
It’s optional but enhances the effect significantly. Add thin glazes of the weapon’s colour onto the hand, arm, and face of the wielder — particularly on surfaces facing the blade. Keep it subtle. For detailed glow techniques, see our plasma glow and OSL tutorial.
What colour power weapon matches each faction?
Blue suits most Imperial factions (Ultramarines, Grey Knights, Imperial Guard). Green works for Dark Angels and Necrons. Purple suits Slaanesh forces and psyker weapons. Red-orange matches Blood Angels and Khorne. White-lightning works for Space Wolves and Custodes. However, there are no rules — use whatever colour creates the best contrast with your army’s scheme.
How do you add lightning effects to power weapons?
After completing the gradient, paint thin white or bright blue lines across the blade in a forked lightning pattern. Start with a main “trunk” line, then branch it into 2-3 forks. Each fork should branch further into thinner lines. Use a very fine brush (size 0 or smaller) and thin paint. Add a faint glow around the lightning by glazing the weapon’s colour thinly around each bolt. The lightning should be irregular and jagged — perfectly straight lines look wrong.
Is it easier to airbrush power weapons?
Yes. An airbrush makes the gradient blending much easier because it naturally produces smooth transitions. Mask one triangle of the blade with Silly Putty, spray the gradient, remove the mask, mask the opposite triangle, and spray the reversed gradient. The edge highlighting still needs brush work, but the airbrush handles the hardest part — the smooth gradient.
How do you paint a regular metal sword on a Warhammer model?
For a plain, non-power sword, basecoat the blade in Leadbelcher, wash it with Nuln Oil, and once dry layer Ironbreaker on the flat. Finish with a fine edge highlight of Stormhost Silver along the cutting edge. For a darker, grimier look, add a little Agrax Earthshade near the hilt. The whole process takes minutes and works on chainswords and combat knives too.
Why does my power sword look flat?
A power sword usually looks flat because the gap between its darkest and lightest colours is too small. Push the dark corner close to black and the light corner close to white so the diagonal flip really stands out. Then sharpen the transition line and add a bright edge highlight. Smooth blending matters less than strong contrast at tabletop distance.
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- Object Source Lighting (OSL) — Complete Miniature Painting Guide — related painting technique and tutorial
- Drybrushing Tutorial — Fast Painting for Warhammer — popular drybrushing technique tutorial